Shadows of Our Past
by lovelyshadow7
Summary: Five years after the war, Sasuke has settled back into Konoha and is slowly opening back up once again. But, what happens when someone from his past comes back into his life and threatens his new found happiness with Sakura? Who is it and what does he want? Full summary inside!


**Hey guys! It's been a while since I've written a story, and I've deleted most of my old ones because they were pretty bad and I haven't updated in years! But don't fear, this story is mostly written and will be updated as much as I can! I haven't written a multi chapter story in a long time, so I really hope that you guys enjoy this story. My writing has improved over the years, but it's far, far away from being perfect, so I'm open to reviews and criticism as long as it isn't mean, rude, or demeaning. So, without further ado, here's the story!**

_Summary:__ Five years after the war, Sasuke has settled back into Konoha with his closest friends and is slowly opening back up once again. He has a newfound contentment with the others and most importantly, Sakura and Naruto. But, what happens when someone comes back into Sasuke's life and threatens his newfound happiness with Sakura? Who is it and what do they want with the sole Uchiha survivor and those he holds dear?_

oOoOoOoOo

"Sasukeeeee!" an obnoxious voice bellowed. The Uchiha whose name was being so loudly thrown through the training field he was peacefully sitting in slowly lifted his eyes up to locate the source of the disturbance. He wasn't at all surprised to find the sight of a beaming Naruto with his arms folded behind his head walking comically towards his spot against a large oak tree. It was around noon, and the sun was beating directly down onto the village. It was _hot, _to say the least. The sweaty Uchiha had taken a break from his morning training to relax in the shade with a scroll in hand. Sasuke let a soft grunt pass through his lips as he went back to what he was doing before he had been interrupted.

"Hn, dobe. Don't disturb me," he grunted. His eyes laid back on to the scroll he was intently studying. It was the report of the latest mission he went on and it was only the third time he became the team captain. His squad had a simple escort mission to the Land of Swamps and it went off without a hitch.

Ever since he returned from his defection five years prior, he had served jail time and had to remain genin level until further notice. It wasn't until the year before the current time that he was allowed by the Hokage to perform in the chunin exams. Of course, he blew the competition away without breaking a sweat. Even so, to that day, he had to consistently keep proving his loyalty to the village. Some shinobi even refused to work with him on their squad. However, Tsunade still made them go, much to their utter dismay, "or so help her, Kami!" It took years, but Team Seven was finally able to go on their first mission back together with a simple mission to infiltrate and gather intelligence in the Land of Frost. There were many times it was believed that it wasn't going to work out due to petty bickering between the "teme" and the "dobe", but the mission was completed once they got their act together and the team came back to Konoha without killing each other, which was an accomplishment in itself. They didn't have many missions together after that, but Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura started spending more time together while inside the village, thus becoming closer once again. They spend almost every day they could together; doing everything from lounging, sparring, eating, bickering, and anything else close teammates did while they bonded. It was truly spectacular how almost natural it was to fall back into how they were before Sasuke left.

"Shut up, teme! You know you're excited to go get ramen with Sakura-chan and me! She's on her lunch break!" Naruto exclaimed as he walked closer to the lounging Uchiha. He had to squint because the sun was beating down on the trio as they made their way through the training field. Once Naruto and Sakura reached the large tree that Sasuke was sitting under, the blond squatted to reach the raven-haired male's eye level while the pinkette stood behind him and held her hands behind her back while flashing a soft smile. "See? I brought her with me!"

Sasuke raised his eyes to meet the bright emerald ones of his female teammate. His eyes widened a slight, unnoticeable fraction as her smile deepened sweetly in greeting. "Hi, Sasuke-kun!" she chirped, "I only have an hour for my break today since the hospital is so busy with patients this week!"

The Uchiha unlocked his eyes from hers and closed his eyes, letting out yet another soft grunt. "Hn," he said simply. He quickly closed his scroll and stored it away in a pack he wore around his hips. Standing up in one swift motion, he moved past them, placing his gloved hands in his pockets. Naruto and Sakura looked after him with matching questioning looks until he stopped and turned around, facing the sun that reflected off of his new, unscratched Leaf headband. After a moment, he said, "Let's go," and turned back around.

Both of his teammates cracked wide smiles and ran to each side of the Uchiha and fell into step with him. The trio walked peacefully to Ichiraku as Sakura went on about what was going on at the hospital and Naruto boasted about his recent training.

oOoOoOo

"_So, what do you say? It's an offer you absolutely cannot refuse," an insidious voice insisted, "If you sign this contract, your protection can increase tenfold. In fact, you _need _this, considering the situation you find yourself in."_

_Two men sat across from each other while seated at a large dining table with a fire crackling behind the strange man who had just spoken. The room was dim, creating an almost haunting atmosphere. The man who spoke was sipping on a glass of sake while the other man let his glass remain untouched. A silence fell over the two men as the mysterious other man deliberated his words._

_ It was somewhat true. Uchiha Sasuke found himself number one in several prevalent bingo books. He was wanted dead by many powerful forces and was hated by all, or so he was led to believe. He "needed" protection from all sides and at all angles to remain alive. However, he was Uchiha Sasuke. He did NOT need mundane weapons with inferior shinobi to protect him. He was feared for a reason and that was his sheer, ruthless power. And he already had trained shinobi at his disposal and _they _were his weapons. He had everything he needed to protect himself and carry out the mission at hand. This weapons tycoon was _not _going to convince him otherwise. _

"_Hn," he began with a deepening frown, "I don't need your pathetic help. Stay out of my way." The Uchiha closed his eyes and turned his back to the men and stood up to walk away. Suddenly, shuriken were thrown in his direction, which he easily deflected with his sword. He immediately activated his Sharingan and whipped around, directing a murderous glare back in the man's direction._

_Cracking a wicked smile, the wealthy man simply said, "Let me demonstrate why my men are more than capable of standing their own against a worthy opponent before you dismiss them. You have something that I would like in return for my spectacular services."_

oOoOoOo

"Baa-chan was really getting' on my nerves the other daaaaay," Naruto whined as he slurped on his noodles. "She wouldn't let me go on any good missions! It's not fair! That stupid…."

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she punched him upside the head. "Do NOT talk about Lady Tsunade like that! Learn some respect, baka!" She began swirling her noodles around her chopsticks as she calmed down and began again. "She's been really stressed out lately because of some deal offers other countries want to make with us. And she doesn't like them one bit. But she's stressing over what's best for the village, you know? So, don't make her lose her temper, or she'll take it out on me!"

"Yeah, well, I need some way to show off my new training!" the Uzumaki shouted as his pumped his fists high into the air. "I've been working on some upgrades to my rasengan and they're pretty damn awesome!" He continued on about what he's been up to in training and what he's done to prepare for it. However, as he animatedly went on about adding more ramen meals to his diet to help fuel him, Sasuke's attention slowly drifted away.

The back and forth chatter between Naruto and Sakura went on as normal as he slid into his thoughts instead of listening to them. He stared off into the distance and began to think about other things, with his mind resting on his previous mission. It was completed, so why did he feel like it wasn't good enough? Did he need to train more? Maybe, but he already trained hard at least twice a day. Maybe it was because his subordinates were still deathly afraid of him and what he might do? Possibly, but he couldn't remember the last time he cared what others thought of him. Or maybe, just maybe, he missed going on missions with…

"What do you think, Sasuke-kun?" a voice chirped, snapping him out of his thought. His eyes shifted over to Sakura, who looked at him with expectant green orbs. The Uchiha gave her a slight questioning look, which led Sakura to sigh loudly. Of course he wasn't listening, so she repeated the previous conversation that he had clearly missed out on. "We want to do something for Hinata's birthday this weekend and we want everyone to go out to the new fancy restaurant that just opened down the street from Ichiraku last week….including you." She looked at him once again with her expectant eyes , somewhat desperately hoping that he would agree.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Hinata? He was vaguely aware of whom she was due to her family, but he didn't think that they'd ever exchanged words before. Why do something for someone he didn't care about? "No," he stated flatly, returning back to his food and also not failing to notice how Sakura's face visibly fell.

"Come on, teme! It'll be fun!" Naruto exclaimed as he threw an arm around Sasuke, causing the Uchiha to tense up. "Everyone'll be there!" The blond seemed to fail to realize that _that _was a big reason why he didn't want to go in the first place. Sasuke did not like large crowds of people, who may or may not be drunk, shouting in his ear all night when he would much rather be training or spending his time at him, _alone. _Naruto released Sasuke soon after his outburst and went back to scarfing down his ramen. With a mouthful of food, he added on, "Don't be such a buzzkill and have some fun for once." With that, he looked to Sakura for some help since he was clearly getting nowhere with the Uchiha whose focus was directed towards his ramen that he barely even touched, and Sakura sighed once more.

"It'll be nice, Sasuke-kun. Besides, you don't even have to stay there the whole time," the pinkette convinced softly, "We can leave after dinner if you want. It's this weekend, and it's only Monday, so maybe you can think about it until then." There was a hint of desperation in her voice that gave away the fact that she really want him to be there; if not for Hinata, then at least for her. Sure, they spent a lot of time together recently, and she savored every moment that she got to spend with Sasuke-kun, but they've never actually _gone out. _It would be nice to finally dress up and have a nice, relaxing night on the town with all of her friends and the one that she loves most dearly. Sasuke's eyes remained forward as he folded his hands in front of his face, as if deliberating what she had said. It really seemed like he took what she said into consideration and it was clear that his words had an effect on him, ever so slightly. The Uchiha's two teammates looked on with hope in their eyes and silently waited for his answer. Out of the corner of his dark eyes, he saw Sakura suddenly snicker and add on, "Also, we should give Naruto some time alone with Hinata. They'd _both _appreciated that." She almost sang the last part in mischievousness, causing the blond to turn bright red.

"Sa-Sakura-chaaan!" Naruto whispered somewhat harshly, "Don't say that out loud!" It was extremely rare when Uzumaki Naruto got flustered, but recently, he would get that way whenever the beautiful Hyuuga was brought up in a conversation. This caused Sakura to start giggling uncontrollably as she removed the blond's hand from over her mouth. Turning to Sasuke once again with her sweet smile painted back on her face, she repeated her earlier question.

"So, Sasuke-kun, what do you say?" she repeated. The raven haired Uchiha regarded her eyes once more, _Kami, they were so beautiful, _and deliberated it one last time. He didn't really care to be social, yet he didn't mind spending time with his teammates, not matter how much they got on his nerves. So, against his own instinct to refuse the offer again, he placed his money on the table, got up from his seat at the bar, and muttered, "Fine. Only for dinner." With that, he walked away from the restaurant, leaving behind a beaming Naruto and smiling Sakura as he went back to the training grounds to train for the second time that day.

oOoOoOoOo

_ "So, Uchiha Sasuke, what would you do if you refuse my offer, and lose the ability to protect your precious ones from getting hurt?" a menacing voice inquired, breaking through a tense silence in the darkness._

_ There was a brief pause, but the Uchiha responded coldly, "All of the precious people in my life have been torn away from me. There is no one I care about anymore. No one at all."_

oOoOoOoOo

**So that's it for the first chapter! Sorry if it's a bit short, but I just wanted to introduce the current dynamics of Team 7 and some of the back story. I'll update the next chapter as soon as I can, so please review! I'll love you guys forever and I'll probably be motivated to update even faster. Let me know what you think about this introduction! :)**


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